Vat Exemption # (EU Only)

[salmanmanekia]

Hi,

I am planning to subscribe myself to Safari books online. There is this text box saying 'Vat Exemption # (EU Only)' which can saves me some money. I do not know what it is and from where can I get this vat exemption number.

Thanks already

[Jukka Aho]

I am planning to subscribe myself to Safari books online. There is this text box saying 'Vat Exemption # (EU Only)' which can saves me some money. I do not know what it is and from where can I get this vat exemption number.

You only get one by being a VAT liable company or organization.

Individual consumers do not have and cannot get VAT numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_U ... _added_tax

[betelgeuse]

I am planning to subscribe myself to Safari books online. There is this text box saying 'Vat Exemption # (EU Only)' which can saves me some money. I do not know what it is and from where can I get this vat exemption number.

You only get one by being a VAT liable company or organization.

Individual consumers do not have and cannot get VAT numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_U ... _added_tax

You can get a VAT number as a sole trader.

[Upphew]

I am planning to subscribe myself to Safari books online. There is this text box saying 'Vat Exemption # (EU Only)' which can saves me some money. I do not know what it is and from where can I get this vat exemption number.

You only get one by being a VAT liable company or organization.

Individual consumers do not have and cannot get VAT numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_U ... _added_tax

You can get a VAT number as a sole trader.

Then you are VAT liable company, not consumer. Consumer protection laws stop working for you.

Which reminds me: neighbor moaned when their internet didn't work (company's contract) and told same time how he got reminder as he had missed their bill. He didn't get the usual 5€ added. He did get 25€ on top of the original bill.

[betelgeuse]

You only get one by being a VAT liable company or organization.

Individual consumers do not have and cannot get VAT numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_U ... _added_tax

You can get a VAT number as a sole trader.

Then you are VAT liable company, not consumer. Consumer protection laws stop working for you.

Let's take the definition of a company from Wikipedia that I used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company

"A company can be defined as an "artificial person", invisible, intangible, created by or under law, with a discrete legal entity, perpetual succession and a common seal.[citation needed] It is not affected by the death, insanity or insolvency of an individual member."

The Finnish translation yritys has the meaning that you used:

"Yrityksellä tarkoitetaan yhden tai usean henkilön yhdessä harjoittamaa taloudellista toimintaa, joka tähtää kannattavaan tulokseen"

http://www.stat.fi/meta/kas/yritys.html

This is understandable given the etymologies of the words.

Which reminds me: neighbor moaned when their internet didn't work (company's contract) and told same time how he got reminder as he had missed their bill. He didn't get the usual 5€ added. He did get 25€ on top of the original bill.

Yeah, I have seen even worse.

[Rosamunda]

Since 1-Jan-2015 all companies, wherever they are based, selling (B2C) digital services to private individuals living in the EU must charge VAT at the going rate in the destination country.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/ta ... dex_en.htm
http://www.vero.fi/en-US/Tax_Administra ... es_(27309)

Technically speaking, since 1-Jan-2015, for the purpose of calculating VAT, the "place of supply" is the place where the consumer "usually resides".

This is an EU directive which was originally aimed at preventing big multinational companies from avoiding taxation. Of course it also hits small e-startups particularly hard which is causing a backlash and rebellion in some countries.

The ruling affects all companies supplying digital services: dating websites, gambling websites, gaming apps, broadcasters (eg Netflix)... pretty much anything that's sold online as a digital service.

Example A Polish customer downloading an App on his mobile phone from a Finnish supplier. The Finnish company must charge the customer Polish VAT.

Example A person living in Barcelona pays a US company for access to American TV channels. The US company must charge the customer Spanish VAT.

To answer the question, "How the hell do they track that?" the answer is MOSS - a portal that all digital services companies can (must) use for declaring their sales to customers located in EU states.

As the others have already made clear, to avoid being charged VAT, the OP would have to provide his VAT number which is the Y-tunnus prefixed with FI:

https://www.ytj.fi/english/business-id/vat-number

Only businesses and persons included in the VAT Register are allowed to use the VAT number. The format of the VAT number has remained the same. A VAT liable business can form a VAT number of its Business ID 1234567-8 by adding a two-letter country code, for example 'FI', as a prefix and by omitting the dash: FI12345678.

Of course, in the real world, if you register a business (eg a toiminimi as already mentioned above) and sell homemade pickles to your neighbours, you can still register for VAT and get a Y-tunnus whether you end up paying in any VAT or not (ie you keep under the 8500€ threshold). I'm not sure what processes are in place to purge ghost companies out of the system but I imagine Vero has computers that flag inactive companies. However, that won't tell them who's buying Netflix and not paying VAT.

It's a murky area and an interesting one to follow. I wonder how EU States will enforce VAT declarations from companies located outside the EU given that they :fail: to prevent huge tax avoidance in other areas like direct taxation (eg HSBC scandal brewing in France and the UK).

[Rosamunda]

Previously if I had to buy ebook from an Individual seller from US, I could inform him that I am in EU so, he don't have to charge VAT/Tax for me.... things were good, I used to get tax discount in books... now they are obliged by law to charge extra VAT to EU customers, same book becomes bit double expensive to me as purchaser, and who knows what the seller do after collecting the VAT. I just see it as his extra pocket money gift from EU Santa Clause.

Goods coming in from outside the EU have always been subject to VAT (and sometimes also excise duty) at the port of entry into the EU. So if you order goods (eg books, herbal remedies and other parapharmaceuticals...) from the US by airmail, Tulli in Vantaa will collect the VAT on the goods + P&P. The VAT on books is 10%. The tax-free ceiling used to be around 30€ but they brought it down to around 10€ (incl P&P) so a book from the USA is more likely to get hit by tax. The rates haven't changed much though (they have been at 10% for a couple of years now).

The new ruling on digital services is a completely different kettle of fish though...